Administration and Social Life under Vijayanagar c13.s2.8

c13.s2.8

For a descriptive account of the city of Vijayanagar and its lofty palaces the writings of the foreign travellers are of indispensable value. The Persian ambassador says that the city of Vijayanagar was so built that it had seven fortified walls one within the other. It was in the seventh fortress that the palace of the king was situated.¹⁷² Paes testifies to the fact that the palace of the king was surrounded by a very strong wall like some of the others and enclosed a very large space.¹⁷³ Outside the entrance of the door to the king's residence were two images painted like life. According to Paes they represented Kṛṣṇadēva Rāya and his father. Inside on the left there were two chambers one above the other. The lower one was below the level of the ground with two little steps which were covered with gilded copper, and the way from there to the top was all lined with gold, and outside, it was dome-shaped. It had a four-sided porch made of cane work and embroidered with precious stones. In that chamber was a bed. In the palace there was a room with pillars of carved stone and ivory. Behind these was the dancing hall.¹⁷⁴